Detroit man accused of child porn, sex trafficking back in court

Police found a woman chained to a stripper pole inside his home and now Ryon Travis is accused of sexually abusing a child and several women.

On Monday he was back in court facing federal child pornography and sex trafficking charges.

Travis appeared in federal court with the indictment charging him with three counts of possessing, producing and distributing child pornography.

"The examination of the defendant's LG phone recovered a series of pictures depicting the sexual abuse of a very young child by an adult male," said Assistant U.S. Attorney Sarah Woodward. "The child appears to be between the ages of 3 and 6 years old."

West Bloomfield police had executed a search warrant on his Detroit home at the beginning of March as part of a fraud investigation of more than $50,000. While there, they found the images on his phone, too graphic to describe here.

Homeland Security went back with another search warrant on March 21st and found Travis, two of his three wives and another woman, chained to a stripper pole in the living room.

She had a chain around her neck with a padlock on the chain and then a longer chain that connected her to the stripper pole.

The 25-year-old woman told investigators Travis sold her and the other women online for sex.

"She said the defendant posted advertisements online or in chat rooms that he had four girls for sale," said Woodward. "And she said that if she or the other women refused to dance or perform sex acts, the defendant would be violent with them - and that he would hit them with a closed fist, kick them or push them down."

The woman knew first-hand.

"She also said that on one occasion the defendant had beaten her so badly that she had to go to the hospital," Woodward said.

Finally the situation had gotten so bad that she ran away, leading to her being chained inside this house of horrors.

"She said that she had been chained up for approximately two weeks in the living room of the home," Woodward said.